Three very different book adaptations hit local theaters this weekend, along with exploitation horror and a now-controversial Sundance hit.

The Girl on the Train (pictured) adapts the thriller best-seller in a way that can't even deliver its simple plot-machine pleasures. Spirit of the Game tries to mix underdog-sports-movie structure with spiritual uplift, but mangles the "sports" part in the process.

MaryAnn Johanson commends the tough, simple story of a foster kid trying to find family in the adaptation of Katherine Paterson's The Great Gilly Hopkins.

Eric D. Snider observes at The Greasy Strangler works as perverse you-gotta-see-this provocation.

In this week's feature review, real-world events radically shift the experience of watching The Birth of a Nation.

Also opening this week, but not screened for press: an adaptation of James Patterson's "kids rebel against their repressive teachers" youth novel Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life.